The present invention is directed to a wireless access architecture that redistributes a portion of the access function components traditionally located at the cell sites.
Wireless access technology is becoming the major driver for new Personal Communication Services (PCS), including new services and low cost fixed access services for developing telecommunication networks. The most expensive component of today's wireless network relates to network access, where almost 80% of the investment is made. Very complex and operation extensive equipment is located at the cell site. The cell site is the area having the receiving and transmitting antennas and the base station equipment. Cell site operations typically require expensive operation and maintenance activities.
Proper handling of mass calling traffic situations for PCS services, such as those typically occurring during or after a concert or sporting event requires increased cell site equipment. This increased equipment is under-utilized at times other than mass calling traffic situations. Thus, there is a need for new architectures for wireless access systems that can reduce the overall cost of network ownership while being capable of handling mass traffic situations by taking advantage of recent advancements in technology.
Traditionally, the post-detection functions of digital radio, such as channel coding and speech coding, used Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology. The continuous advancement of DSP technology and the integration of parallel computing make it possible to develop a DSP with very high computing power. Recently, DSP technology has been used in detection, equalization, demodulation, frequency synthesis and channel filtering. Other technological advancements include the development of wideband analog-to-digital (A/D) converters with a large dynamic range. The development of these two technologies have fostered a new technology called "software radio."